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Thom Brown Spring/Summer 2016

It should be pretty apparent to readers of this site, by now, that Thom Browne is one of my favorite designers, and my hands down must see show during New York Fashion Week.

More sartorial spectacle and feast for the senses than traditional fashion show, Browne’s bi-annual women’s collection is presented in a unique, innovative way each season. As mentioned in the wonderful VOGUE.com review of the SS16 collection, it’s a tradition for the show’s theme to be tantamount to the theme of the clothing. There is no guess work for critics trying to decipher the current season’s inspiration.

For SS16, this was Japan. Specifically Japanese School Girls.

Beauty wise, this translated into geisha inspired makeup, and traditional school girl braids– updated in a most untraditional way– with the braids hanging “upside down”!

Jimmy Paul for Bumble and Bumble used floral wire inside of braids (both natural hair, and extensions, depending on the model) to create the stick straight ponytails.

To get the look:
Spray Bumble and Bumble Thickening Hairspray was sprayed onto the roots, and hair was combed into two ponytails on the top of the head.

Hair was then separated into 3 sections for the braid, with a corresponding piece of floral wire in each section.

To finish the look, Classic Hairspray was sprayed liberally on the braids, then dried with a blow dryer.

MAC’s Sil Bruinsma once again created an amazing complementary beauty look for this season’s show.

Part Geisha school girl, part “Queen Amidala from Star Wars” the look featured a stark white face, with shocks of thick black on both lips and eyebrows, created with Feline Eye Pencil, and Blacktrack Fluidline liner.

The MAC face chart

Lining the lips with Feline pencil

Halfway there!

Sil Bruinsma at work

The finished look:

The beauty look was topped off with nails by Julie Kandalec for ESSIE.

It’s no secret Thom Browne loves a good uniform. In lieu of the mostly red, white, and black color palettes of the past few seasons prior, the Spring collection featured a more muted pastel colorway, with traditional Japanese patterns and illustrations embroidered onto the clothing. In short– it was gorgeous. And stood out perfectly amongst the “school house” runway set.